The California Department of Food and Agriculture is accepting pre-proposals for its 2027 Fertilizer Research and Education Program grant cycle through Monday, December 14, 2026. Announced November 9, the funding opportunity supports research, demonstration, education and training aimed at improving nutrient and irrigation management while reducing environmental impacts.
Applicants must use the program’s pre-proposal template and align their projects with at least one funding priority. CDFA directs applicants to the FREP Grant webpage for the request for proposals, timelines and funding priorities.
Priorities span adoption, nutrient movement and water use
The 2027 priorities include helping growers adopt efficient crop nutrient and irrigation practices and technologies through outreach, education and demonstrations. CDFA also seeks projects that examine the challenges and barriers that keep agricultural operations from adopting management practices.
Other priorities address the role of organic inputs in soil nutrient management, demonstrations or validation of practices that optimize nutrient or irrigation water use, and crop-specific gaps in nutrient and irrigation knowledge. The agency also identifies nutrient movement from the root zone and strategies to reduce nutrient losses as research priorities.
CDFA encourages projects with demonstrable benefits for socially disadvantaged farmers and farm workers. The agency ties that emphasis to historical gaps in access to resources and information across California’s agricultural communities.
Selected applicants advance to full proposals
The Technical Advisory Subcommittee of CDFA’s Fertilizer Inspection Advisory Board will review all pre-proposals. Applicants selected by the subcommittee will receive invitations to develop full proposals, making the December submission the first step rather than the full application stage.
Since 1990, FREP has funded more than 280 projects with over $32 million invested in California irrigation and nutrient management research, outreach and education, according to CDFA. The program’s database provides access to completed and ongoing research. Questions about the grant cycle can be emailed to FREP@cdfa.ca.gov.
